A sign with a wire chicken on top welcomes people to The Mother Farm. Long rows of dirt stretch toward the farm pond. Further back, beyond the blue house with white trim, are red barns with chickens and goats roaming behind fences. Susan Nagel greets people in the front yard, smiling beneath the brim of her hat. Before setting them to work weeding and planting, she opens her arms and reminds them, “This is your farm share.”

   It’s a big change from the lab Nagel spent her days in at the MU School of Medicine studying endocrine disruptors, which are chemicals that can affect normal hormone production. Her farm is a different kind of field work than she’s used to, like her trip to Colorado to study the effects of chemicals from the oil and gas production method known as fracking. Nagel left her research job a year ago, going from an associate professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health to a full-time farmer.